The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Training provider upbeat despite apprentice shock
SKILLS: Oil price drop hits 2016 recruit intake at 50-year-old Angus charity
A long-standing Angus engineering training provider, which has seen a slump in its new apprentice intake, is confident the oil sector will bounce back from the doldrums.
Arbroath-based Angus Training Group (ATG) is celebrating its 50th anniversary and has weathered peaks and troughs in the engineering sector down the years.
For much of its time, ATG has trained up new blood for the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Intrinsically linked to the performance of the UK Continental Shelf, the charity’s throughput of apprentices follows the fortunes of the operators and oil supply chain firms that form its 55-strong company membership base.
When the oil price was north of $100 per barrel in 2013 and 2014, ATG was operating almost to capacity with more than 70 apprentices.
The sustained downturn in the price of crude saw that number drop to fewer than 30 in the current year, and ATG has just eight apprentice places booked for the upcoming August intake.
Director Alan Swankie said it was a concerning time for the industry but he argued that cutting investment in new talent was not the right approach at this stage in the cycle.
“The industry is on its knees just now so we don’t expect any different – our numbers drop accordingly,” Mr Swankie said.
“It is not a surprise to us. We knew our numbers would be affected but how you get around it, I don’t know.
“We have had the peaks and troughs over the years and this is no different.
“The only certainty is that it will come good again, but there could be a lot of damage in the short term.”
As a charity, ATG has built up reserves and is confident that it can survive the current downturn.
The last major low was in 2009 when it had fewer than 15 apprentices on its books and, prior to that, there was a drop off in 1986 and 1973. The group’s busiest year was 1977 when it had more than 80 apprentices, a similar level to that seen before the current downturn.
Mr Swankie said engineering was vital to the modern economy and failing to train new apprentices was short-sighted.
“Apprenticeships are an investment for the future,” he said.
“By the time an apprentice is fully time-served it is a four-year cycle, but companies still get something out of them in that period.
“If we don’t train people now then we are looking at there being a shortage in 2020 when things have picked up.
“I can understand it from a business point of view. If you are looking at people going out of the business then the last thing you are looking at is to bring apprentices through. “That makes it very difficult for us.” ATG has given a grounding to many future captains of industry operating at high levels within oil and gas majors.
The group has been in its premises on Catherine Street in Arbroath since April 1979. The workshop and offices were opened by famed war veteran, Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader.